Kennel Club Good Citizens

 

About a week ago I decided that I was going to do Peggy's Kennel Club Good Citizens Bronze Award. I decided to do this without going to any classes whatsoever - I thought, 'Oh I'll just wing it and see what happens!'

Well of course Peggy passed with flying colours - a testament to the training we do here at home and to the intelligence of the breed.

Then yesterday I decided that since I was at Manchester Championship Show with Elsie where there was an examiner, I may as well give it a bash and try to get her KCGC Bronze as well. 

I must admit that I did have a moment of panic once I was in the ring actually doing the exam - a very busy dog show with lots of loud noises and distractions such as a tannoy system and spectators surrounding the ring cheering us on, made me quite nervous. 

Anyway, I needn't have worried because Elsie passed too!

The Kennel Club Good Citizen Scheme is a great programme and I would definately recommend it. There are 3 levels - Bronze, Silver and Gold. I may well do the others in the near future too. I will probably do some actual training in preparation though 😂

You can read more about the Scheme HERE

Looking Forward

2022 wasn't the best year for me.

It began with the loss of my best friend Adelle, to suicide. Navigating my grief has been very difficult. Suicide leaves a lot of unanswered questions and the next of kin duties, such as clearing Adelle's flat and seeing where she died and then organising her funeral were incredibly distressing and something that will stay with me forever.

With the inquest still not heard and a family statement that I so strongly feel that I need to deliver to the Coroner in person, her loss is still very profound and I feel it every day. It will soon be a year since she left us, and I don't quite know where that time has gone.

Having had the litter of pups with Peggy just 7 weeks before Adelle died and being so in grief that I struggled to speak to anyone about puppies, I somehow found myself keeping two - Nancy and Elsie.

Two was never the plan, however they were an absolute blessing and throwing myself into their training really helped me to get through what has been the darkest time of my life.

This last year I have focused very much on campaigning the pups at shows and both girls have qualified for Crufts several times over. We have also had numerous Best Puppy in Breed placings and even some Puppy Group placings too.

And of course, we have been on lots of wonderful walks, met up with our friends and completed several trick dog titles too!

Because I have been so busy with the pups, Peggy has done only couple of shows this year, but regardless of this she has placed well - again getting a couple of Best of Breed and Reserve Best of Breed Placings. I am likely going to retire her from showing after Crufts this year and focus more on obedience, which she enjoys.

Once Peggy is retired, I will be continuing to show with Elsie.

Nancy is now clipped off - keeping 3 dogs in full show coat as well as working full time is just too much work for a single person to manage! 

The other two doggos - Stanley and Edna are just great.

Edna has some more modelling jobs booked soon so watch this space!

Looking forward to 2023, I may well have another silver litter - we shall see.

I am also probably going to have to pull back from showing a little - my job has changed slightly and the hours are different now, so I won't be showing every single weekend. But that's ok! I can continue to renovate the house during the weekdays I have off and spend some more time focusing on that.

Here's hoping that 2023 is a more positive one than last year.